Mother stunned after 'finding LIVE crab' in her online shopping delivery
A MOTHER was left stunned after claiming she opened her online delivery bag to find a LIVE CRAB in her shopping.
Harriet Stapley was shocked to find this live crab in her shopping
Harriet Stapley, 30, said she found the tiny critter on top of a pack of yoghurt pots purchased for her young son.
She claims the crab was dropped off at her home along with bread, milk and other groceries by a Tesco delivery driver.
The only fish in the entire order was a sealed packet of salmon, but she said the little crab was spotted happily sitting on top of some pots of Munch Bunch yoghurt.
The mother-of-three, from Kent, said: "I couldn't believe it - I thought it was dead at first.
"I told my three year-old son Jack, who took him outside - and then he started to move.
"Then I thought what do I do with a live crab. I didn't want him to die."
Tesco are unsure how the crab came to be in the delivery
Gangster Crab - armed and dangerous!
Ms Stapley, a child minder, rang Tesco customer services where she claims an employee told her to contact the RSPCA.
She said: "I couldn't get hold of anyone at the RSPCA so rang back and Tesco said they would come and pick him up and release him into a lake.
"I just thought 'I can do that myself'."
Ms Stapley released the crab into a nearby lake
Ms Stapley enlisted the help of her three-year-old son Jack
She filled a bucket with water and took the crustacean to a nearby lake.
She said: "My children wanted to take him to the seaside but I thought he wouldn't last that long so we put him in a bucket of water with some rocks and then took him to Bradbourne Lakes."
A Tesco spokesperson said the supermarket delivers its online shopping from a warehouse in Aylesford but said they do not keep live animals or fish there and have no idea where the crab could have come from.
A spokesperson said: "It's difficult to explain how the crab has made it so far away from its natural habitat but we've promised Ms Stapley we'll investigate."